My New Gun (1992) User Reviews

Lives up to its potential - about half of it

[raisleygordon · 5/10 · 17 August 2010]

This movie interested me since I first heard of it, which was a Siskel & Ebert review. Until Gerald Bender has to go to the hospital, the movie is really interesting. But after that point, not so much. It was still very watchable, indeed, but somehow the edge wasn't all there. The Stephen Collins character, I think, is what keeps the movie going. But when Diane Lane is now the lead, the movie is a bit slow. As for Skippy (played by James LeGros), this character is too subtle. The reasons for wanting his neighbors' gun are never clear. Is he secretly a murderer? Is he protecting somebody? As to whether this is something you're easily supposed to figure out, I have no idea. And as the movie gets closer to the end, it starts to make a lot less sense. And as for the ending (without spoiling too much), there is a gun involved, but what is the point of this scene? And I don't think the movie ends. It just stops.

**1/2 out of ****

Gun fail

[moonspinner55 · 2/10 · 20 November 2016]

Dark comedy, more puzzling and inscrutable than satisfyingly quirky, centers on the ever-changing circumstances happening to a modern day suburban couple who bring a gun into their house. Writer-director Stacy Cochran seemingly has a lot to say about "internal and external regeneration," but never manages to put all her thoughts together (the people in her screenplay talk haltingly, measuring their thoughts between their words). As a result, we're drawn to Diane Lane's lovely, quizzical concern as the housewife to doctor Stephen Collins but not much else. The scenario is intentionally vapid, with these neighborhood weirdos living in a vacuum, but Cochran isn't able to make her sideways vision funny or interesting. *1/2 from ****

Underestimated

[sactor · 15 September 2004]

Overall I felt that this was an extremely well written movie. I had not heard of it the first time it came out, but a friend recommended it to me and I just loved it. I even suggested it to my in-laws who loved it as well, and they don't like anything. I loved the angle the writer used. The plot is not like all the other boring ones seen in the theaters today. You are never quite sure what will happen next, because everything that happened was not expected. The dialoge is smart and quick bringing in a plethora of one liners that provoke laughter. Best part....see Diane Lane at such a young age and still giving a great performance. This is a great date movie too because the sexual tension is done extremely well.

Pointless

[Rodrigo_Amaro · 3/10 · 8 June 2010]

Sometimes there are films that are so weird that it's actually good to see. Sometimes that are films that are so normal that's actually boring. And other times that are weird films that are boring and pointless trash. This last example is the case of "My New Gun", a not funny story about a woman and her problems with a gun given by her husband.

Debbie (Diane Lane) is awarded by her husband Gerald (Stephen Collins) with a .38 Special only because another couple friend of them did the same thing. But Debbie starts to think that her gun might explode during her sleep, and she barely can't shoot with it. In the middle of this dumb situation Skipp (James LeGros, the reason of why this movie was watchable) a neighbor friend of Debbie appears to help her to deal with the gun. The story gets so lousy to the point of Gerald accidentally shoot his own foot, stay several days in the hospital and when he's finally out he wants to divorce his wife. By the time when that happens he's an annoying and unbearable character who's only action is to scream to his wife. Not funny!

Skipp actions starts to disturb Debbie, first because he "stolen" the gun, didn't said to her why he needed to used it, and then his friend (Philip Seymour Hoffman) also accidentally shot himself (we never know what happened to him after this). The mess gets bigger when Debbie plays the detective and starts to investigate Skippy's mysteries to find that his strange mother (Tess Harper) is a former country singer with problems with her husband (Bill Raymond). I guess I told the whole movie.

Almost two hours of my life that I won't be able to explain why I wasted. Let's see...It had good actors and the story seems to be very different and cool to see it. That was my thought before I saw it. My thoughts after I see it: It has noting funny, the good cast was wasted, although I find James LeGros very mysterious and good here, but another director could give him a better lead character in another movie. Almost all the characters here are non-likable, with some tasteless punchlines and behavior. And what's the point of the movie? It didn't criticized anything about guns and their problems, it only shows someone who fears it but in the end she is forced to used it and not even recognizing that in the right time it can help you. Not even a statement or a satire over the excessive use of arms in Hollywood films. It wasn't like "It's the Rage" (very good movie about the indiscrimination of bear guns).

Bottom of line: It didn't needed to be made. Waste of money (the producers's money and the people who's about to rent it). 3/10

A pointless and disappointing movie

[parson1uk · 3/10 · 11 May 2004]

I watched this movie and found it to be extremely disappointing. There were one or two slightly humorous scenes, the plot was very slight. The story revolved around what happened when Diane Lane's character & her husband when they buy a new gun and cross path's with their neighbour "Skippy". I kept waiting for something interesting to happen but it just didn't. The acting was decent enough but the pace of the movie was very slow & uninteresting. The character of Lane's husband played by Stephen Collins was extremely annoying. I also saw Happiness which was mentioned in one of the reviews of this movie, I was disgusted with it and did'nt find it to my taste at all.

I personally thought this one one of Diane Lane's worst movies. 3/10

Worst Film I've Ever Seen

[killie_chick · 1/10 · 30 August 2021]

I have nothing redeeming to say about this film. It made no sense. Plots didn't tie up at all. Been told I maybe saw N edited for tv version, but what I saw was absolute trash.

A suntle, underrated, and misunderstood midnight classic

[Flash19 · 10/10 · 29 March 2005]

This movie is quirky and will not appeal to most people. It's does not contain much in the way of action, there are no special FX, and the plot is down to earth. The film is also mistakenly billed as a comedy and this tends to throw people expecting funny hah hah as in Meet the Parents. This is a subtle black comedy. It's more funny in the same vein as After Hours. In fact anyone that liked After Hours a lot will probably like this too.

There are 2 central characters in the story. Diane Lane plays Debbie Bender a sexy youngish woman married to a stuffy slightly older doctor. I use the term youngish because her character appears to be in that strange zone that is the twilight of youth. Her husband although only slightly older has fully completed to transition to adulthood, is very materialistic, does not respect or acknowledge his wife's intelligence and views her as some sort of a possession / servant.

Jame LeGros plays Skippy a neighbour whos a sort of mid 20s James Dean crossed with Peter Pan type character slightly younger than Debbie... but not much. He's also rebellious - the aging neighbourghood bad boy stuck in a menial job and and still living with his mother obstensibly because he's too broke to get a place of his own but secretly because he has to look after her. Amusingly the Benders both perceive themselves to be much older than Skippy and treat him like the a neighbourhood kid, although deep down you can tell that Debbie perhaps identifies more with Skippy than her husband...

There's a hugely surreal aspect to the film although not as blatant as say Twin Peaks, this is presented is a voyueristic way letting you catch various characters with their guard down and seeing how they behave when they think nobody is watching.

The best part of the film is the sexual tension between Debbie and Skippy as they become thrown together by their vaguely and intentionally hum-drum adventure.

If you like films about the more interesting an amusing parts of real life while exposing some of the quirkier aspects of the human condition and with a crackling of sexual tension then you need to get hold of this.

Great soundtrack too!

Great movie

[Sean-56 · 10/10 · 27 November 1998]

I really liked the movie "My New Gun." It is very original, funny, suspenseful, and crazy all at the same time. The characters are all portrayed wonderfully, but in my mind the best performance was by Tess Harper, who played Kimmy Hayes. Ms. Harper was the perfect actress for the role, and she made all of the pieces fit together. This is one of my favorite movies.

The humour is subtle and unforced

[jerry_newman · 10/10 · 13 October 2000]

Everything in this movie seems to me to have evolved rather than being contrived as is so often the case in American comedies. The characters are all credible, and some are refreshingly likeable while the "bad" guys get what they deserve, but only that rather than the overkill typical of moralistic movies. Stacey Cochrane's debut as writer/director.

Fun, a little camp. and beautifully professional

[av_m · 9/10 · 11 June 2022]

I LUV the pacing of this film - it just sails along completely untroubled by the constant irony - all the actors play off of each other with perfect timing and reaction - Diane Lane. Playing the central character, plays a young housewife consistently at a total loss but forging on nonetheless, Stephen Collins is, as always, solidly in role as the witless husband, and James Le Gros as the "Skippy" character is a bemusingly understated suburbia Rebel Without a Clue.

Director/Writer Stacy Cochran is in full control of the film - unusual for a Director/Auteur - and keeps the overall look, feel, timing, and timing of the whole thing in beautiful sync.

Favorite line: Diane Lane in marvelously modulated deadpan: "You're a fishy guy, aren't you Skippy."

Catch this one if you can, it's fun and a little camp, and lot of professional work and performances that are a pleasure to watch proceed through the narrative.

If there were no guns there would be no killing....right?

[helpless_dancer · 17 April 2003]

One of the weirdest comedies I've seen yet. I didn't think it was funny or even particularly interesting, and at times it played much like a drama. The acting was fine, I merely feel the writer was smoking banana peels during the project's creation.

One of the best...

[llobdell-1 · 10/10 · 1 July 2007]

I haven't seen this film since it was in the theaters, but I remember at the time thinking it was one of the best films I'd ever seen. I always get a kick out of things filmed in my area, too, and Rt 3 in NJ was involved. Will look for the DVD soon so I can share it with friends. It was never in wide release and it was frustrating at the time that I couldn't find anyone to rave about it with. Now I'm going to see if this filmmaker ever pumped out another one...I spoke about it yesterday with a friend after we went to see "You Kill Me," with Ben Kingsley...it had a similar quirky feel and without knowing anything about it in advance, I surmised that it was directed either by the same person who'd done My New Gun OR Red Rock West. Turns out the latter was true. What 's also amazing is that now that I look fresh at the credits for My New Gun, I'm amazed to see that Philip Seymour Hoffman was in it (I thought my intro to him was Boogie Nights), and Diane Lane.

Wry comedy, nicely done

[moveebob · 13 June 1999]

Slight plot about what happens when fumbling wife Diane Lane receives a gun from her husband. Nicely performed comedy especially by Stephen Collins and James Le Gros. A light divertisement directed in the style of the later "Happiness".

An almost offhanded gem

[Andor · 9/10 · 7 March 1999]

You find yourself so mesmerized that at one point near the end when a cop almost but not quite touches a a pair of gloves and the mind goes the cop wanted to touch the gloves and almost did but didn't.

Another moment is when the crackpot intruder just barely touches the the edge of the sleeve of the dress two or three times.

Another is when Skippy touches Debbie's hair at the supermarket.

I loved the world in which this movie took place. I not only care about the time during which the movie took place but also all the time leading up to it and all the time after it ended.

The point now is to find out what Stacy Cochran has done since 1992.